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Tuesday, March 3

THE WINS ARE STACKING UP for Lydia Ko. She won again this past weekend, hoisting the Patricia Bridges Bowl Trophy at the Women's New Zealand Open, her national championship. A week earlier Ko won the Women's Australian Open. Ko will try for her third consecutive win at this week's LPGA event in Singapore.A Ladies European Tour (LET) event, the latest victory was Ko's 10th professional title. Her performance included a career-best 61 in the second round."[T]his is even better than I would ever have imagined," Ko said. "It's just great to have won the two Opens back to back."Ko, 17, is setting a new standard in her sport. How old were other top golfers when they claimed their 10th professional victory? A sampling:

Monday, March 2

THE LAST TIME PADRAIG HARRINGTON WON on the PGA Tour Barack Obama was 17 days from being nominated for president of the United States. Harrington won the PGA Championship on August 10, 2008. It was the Irishman's second consecutive major and third overall. "Paddy" was on top of the golf world. There was only one way to go.

Padraig Harrington explained his decline on Feherty
in July 2014. (Golf Channel image)

"There's no doubt on your way back down it's a lot different," Harrington told Golf Channel's Steve Sands after winning the Honda Classic in a sudden-death playoff, "but hopefully this isn't an isolated win."

Harrington made up four shots on the lead over the closing nine holes and sank a birdie on the final green to get into a playoff. (As usual, PGA National was brutal. The winning total was 6 under.) He then closed out the victory when Daniel Berger hit into the water on the treacherous par-3 17th and made double bogey.

The water also drowned the hopes of others.

Ian Poulter started the final round with a three-shot lead. Poulter hit into the water five times during a round that stretched over two days, missing the playoff by a single shot.

Meanwhile, Harrington, who claimed his first PGA Tour title at the Honda Classic a decade ago, is heading in a better direction.

"I really do believe in myself," he said.

"I think I really found that mental edge that has been lacking the last number of years and, hopefully, I can stick with that going forward and be consistently contending. Because I know if I am contending I can win."

NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller was impressed by what he saw.

"Yesterday we pretty much had written him off because he was going the wrong direction missing short putts," Miller said.

"But you talk about a sweet win. At 43 years old he's gone through the bottom dregs of golf ... from a three-time major champion winner to almost, sort of, embarrassing. And just stuck with it."

Harrington lost his PGA Tour card last year and got into the Honda Classic field with a sponsor's exemption. With the 20th victory of his professional career, Harrington moved from 297 to 82 in the world golf rankings.

Thursday, February 26

The following edited content was supplied by Golf Channel in a news release.The PGA TOUR kicks off the Florida Swing this week. The field includes 16 of the top-25 players in the world, including World No. 1 Rory McIlroy making his 2015 PGA TOUR debut.The LPGA Tour continues the international stretch of its 2015 schedule, with nine of the top-10 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings in the field for the Honda LPGA Thailand. And the European Tour stages the first of three consecutive events in South Africa with the Joburg Open.

Wednesday, February 25

I HAVE RYDER CUP FATIGUE. To be honest, I don't feel like talking about it. At least not about the US of A. But I do feel obligated. That's because the PGA of America's ballyhooed 11-member task force, after just two meetings, has announced its choice for U.S. Ryder Cup captain in 2016.

Davis Love III will get another turn
as U.S. Ryder Cup captain. (Edelman)

Davis Love III.

OK, fine. No, really, I'm OK with this selection.

I felt that Love did a great job in 2012. He was considered to be positively brilliant until his squad coughed up a commanding 10-6 lead on Sunday at Medinah.

Was that Love's fault? Um, no.

Love is a solid choice for 2016. A "company" man, so to speak, AND a players' captain. It should help the U.S. captain and his team that next time is a home game, but don't count on it. For a very long time, Europe has been better, period. That might continue. And yes, the U.S. players must play better if they want to win. The captain can only do so much.

Will they throw Davis under the team bus if the United States loses at Hazeltine in 2016?

Tuesday, February 24

THERE WERE MILD RESERVATIONS THREE WEEKS ago when Lydia Ko achieved No. 1 status in the women's game. Just 17 years old, the New Zealander ascended to the top spot in the Rolex Rankings after a runner-up finish at the Coates Golf Championship in Ocala, Florida.

None of Ko's peers questioned her game or that Ko was more than capable of ruling the ladies circuit. But some openly wondered about the current points system and if it rewarded Ko too soon.

That small debate is now moot. Ko is for real. She has not let her foot off the accelerator.

This past weekend the teen solidified her ranking with a victory at the Women's Australia Open at Royal Melbourne Golf Club. It was her sixth title on the LPGA Tour. Watch out.

As the Australian media (via Geoff Shackelford) noted, Ko hit 64 of 72 greens in regulation, tops in the field. This is especially noteworthy at Royal Melbourne, home to elevated and contoured putting surfaces, and also one of the great courses on the planet.

Ko seems to take it all in stride. Again, she is 17. And she is confident. Youth and confidence can be a formidable combination.

"I didn't really know how I would play and how I would react to becoming world No. 1, and I always wondered that," Ko said at LPGA.com.

"Sometimes I got close and I was still world No. 2, 3 or 4, and then after Ocala (the Coates Golf Championship) I couldn't pull off the win but then I became world No.1. I played average in the first two days in the Bahamas but then I fired back.

"It's good to know that just from my confidence that I can still play good and not really think about the world rankings."

Yes, that's good to know for Ko. Perhaps not so good for her competitors.

There's no doubt about it: Ko is good, very good, maybe even great. Time will tell.

Monday, February 23

Hogan's Alley, as it has been called through the years, is a dark alley of sorts, the kind of scary alley you don't want to get caught in late on a Sunday when you're trying to get home with a win.

That was certainly the case yesterday in overcast, rainy, breezy Pacific Palisades, situated a short distance from the Pacific Ocean.

James Hahn

A player named James Hahn survived the Riviera gauntlet better than the others, outlasting Dustin Johnson and Paul Casey in a sudden-death playoff. It was the first PGA Tour title for Hahn, who came to Los Angeles ranked 297th in the world and left with a career-changing victory and ranked No. 86.

Riviera may have stolen Hahn's lunch money, but it mugged 54-hole leader Retief Goosen and roughed up other golfers who had legitimate chances to win on a gray Sunday in L.A. Names such as Johnson, Jim Furyk, Graham DeLaet, Sergio Garcia, Jordan Spieth and Sang-Moon Bae struggled over the closing holes.

The only moves were backwards. There was talk from the CBS towers of possible birdies, like on the 17th, a reachable par-5 with two big pokes. But it was just talk. As it turned out, for many contenders, that deceptively difficult 17th was a bogey hole not a birdie hole.

So was the 18th, one of the best finishing holes on the circuit.

In a TV interview immediately following the playoff, Hahn was humbled by his achievement.

"I never would have thought I would win this tournament," he said, paying homage to the name golfers he had beaten.

That seems about right at Riviera. The unheralded player wins, the name players only come close and a classic golf course is the master of them all.

Thursday, February 19

The following edited content was supplied by Golf Channel in a news release.

The PGA TOUR shifts to Southern California this week with 2014 Northern Trust Open winner Bubba Watson defending at Riviera Country Club.

The LPGA Tour returns with the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, as 41-time LPGA Tour winner and Australia native Karrie Webb will try to defend in her home country in an event she has won on five previous occasions. And, the European Tour will co-sanction the Hero Indian Open for the first time ever this week.

Tournament being played as official European Tour event for first time:This is the 51st edition of the Hero Indian Open, but the first time that it will be contested as an official European Tour event. It is co-sanctioned by both the European Tour and Asian Tour, and marks the first European Tour event in India since the 2013 Avantha Masters.

The 2011 Open Champion becomes the first Northern Irishman to lead Europe against the United States, having played in the biennial contest five times, featuring on the winning side on four occasions. He was also a vice captain under Colin Montgomerie and José María Olazábal in the European wins in 2010 and 2012 respectively, and succeeds Irishman Paul McGinley, who captained Europe to a 16 ½-11 ½ triumph at Gleneagles last September.

Clarke takes the reins for the 41st Ryder Cup with the aim of leading Europe to a record fourth consecutive victory in the biennial contest.

The 46 year old was chosen by a five man selection panel consisting of those three most recent European Ryder Cup Captains - McGinley, Olazábal and Montgomerie – as well as the Chief Executive of The European Tour, George O’Grady, and European Tour Tournament Committee member David Howell, which met at Wentworth Club today (Wednesday February 18).

Clarke said: "I am naturally extremely proud to be selected as European Ryder Cup captain for 2016. The Ryder Cup has been a massive part of my life and my career, so to have the chance to lead Europe next year is a huge honour.

"I am lucky to have played and worked under some fantastic captains in my seven Ryder Cups to date, and I look forward to the challenge of trying to follow in their footsteps and help Europe to a fourth consecutive Ryder Cup victory at Hazeltine next year."

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